


Beneath the Waves

by ScatteredStarlight413



Series: Tales of Keiraia [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29560092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScatteredStarlight413/pseuds/ScatteredStarlight413
Summary: Memories can be as fleeting as air, and beneath the sea's not the best place for either.A story of a girl, a seafolk, and finding a home.
Series: Tales of Keiraia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171718
Kudos: 2





	Beneath the Waves

You’re-awake. You didn’t wake up, didn’t fall asleep, but you’re awake. That’s the first thing that registers. 

The second thing is that you’re underwater.

The third is that you are not an alien or a fish and you cannot breathe underwater.

The fourth is that, when you squint and open blurry eyes, you cannot see the sun above you. Which...means you’re so deep underwater that you aren’t getting out, are you? You look around, confused and scared, and see nothing but the same infinite, endless, darkness. Perhaps it’s brighter that way? Or that? Perhaps over down there it’s more blue than black? You can’t tell. You can’t see anything!

Your breath starts to run out. 

As you panic, fearing that you’ll die here, as your vision dims and your eyes close, you see a light. Then again, maybe you don’t.

It doesn’t really matter, though. After all, you won’t wake back up...again...to...see...it…

what were you thinking again?

you

can’t

remember...

Suddenly, you jerk awake, coughing up water. You look around, realizing you’re in...a room? A room might be a little bit of a bad description, since the walls are made of shining pearl, and everything else-including the door-is woven seaweed.

You also see a woman with silvery skin, clear pupil-less blue eyes, and gills standing next to you. You both scramble away from each other at the same time, you...much more clumsily. In a voice that sounds like wind chimes and music, she says, “Ah...you’re awake. I suppose you should be going now, should you not?” You look at the door, somehow keeping out the ocean. “Um. I can’t breathe underwater. You know that, right?” She nods. “Yes...I can bring you to the sun-seas, I can return you to your kind. Would you like that?” 

You think. Your kind...who are your kind? You...can’t remember. All you remember is waking up in the ocean, then being saved by this fish-person. “I...I don’t know. All I remember is waking up in the ocean.” The fish-woman replies, “Ah...well then. I suppose you’ll be staying with me a bit longer, no?” You shrug. “Not like I can get out.” 

She laughs, with a sound like tinkling bells. “I suppose not! If we are staying together, we should know each other's names, no? I am called Whisper of Wind That Reaches the Starlight Seas Where it Brings Hope and New Stories, but you can call me Whisper. I know that most beings do not have such long names. What are you known as?” 

You think.

You don’t know your name.

“I...I don’t know. I can’t remember.”  
Whisper frowns. “Hmm, well, I suppose you will need a new one. Perhaps when I know you a bit better.” 

You nod. 

Whisper glides towards a pearly door that you hadn’t noticed before. “We will have to continue this discussion later, as the stew I’ve made is nearly ready. Would you care to join me?” You nod gratefully. You are incredibly hungry. 

Whisper’s stew is made with fish and seaweed, and it’s so good. You could absolutely eat this forever if you didn’t get full. Eventually, the two of you return to the larger room that’s apparently where she spends most of her time. You notice a few chairs and a large bookshelf, and Whisper says you’re free to read them. You pick one that’s a fairytale-as in a story written by a fairy, what else?-about a girl who finds a golden crown that gives her the power to control flames and she eventually saves the world. It’s pretty good.

Whisper starts working on something with some of her kelp, weaving fabric or something. She also pulls out some blue thread, using it to stitch things together. When she finishes-which she does surprisingly quickly-she hands it to you. “I noticed that your garments are rather old and raggedy, so I made you some new ones.” It’s an outfit woven out of kelp made into fabric, however Whisper did that, and a hooded kelp cloak with a pearl clasp. You smile thankfully, and dart into one of the spare rooms to change, leaving off the cloak for now. It fits perfectly. You have no idea how Whisper did that.

You live with her for a long time, eventually learning how to weave kelp-apparently it takes a special tool. She gives you one-, catch fish, and make clothes. You still don’t remember your name, but eventually she gives you a new one. Kěnpræ. In her language, it means ‘She Who Keeps The Flame of Hope Alight’. She pronounces it Kaen-praii. 

The two of you live together for...years? Months? Decades? There are no clocks in Whisper’s domain, and neither of you seem to age. 

It’s nice.

Whisper teaches you her Eliiǎr name, her name in her language, I’aprisii. Her family name is Child Of The Waves, or Řelkoraa. She is I’aprisii Řelkoraa, and she tells you that you can take that name too.

She teaches you Eliiǎr, the language of the elements, to write it and speak it as easily as one of its children.

It’s a beautiful language, filled with breathy sibilant sounds, sharp consonants, slow and melodic vowels, and grammar that is simple and solid.

You have a friend, a home, and a name. 

You are Kěnpræ Řelkoraa, She Who Keeps The Flame Of Hope Alight, Daughter Of The Waves.

You are happy here.

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be the first in a series of one-chapter short stories. They're all set in the same universe and follow this story, but can be read alone as well. Updates will be sporadic, but I'll try'n alert people if I'm vanishing.


End file.
